Louise Kames, a native of the Chicago area, teaches at Clarke College in Dubuque, IA. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art and art history from Clarke College.

In recent years her work has included drawings of organic imagery, roots and leaves arranged in an iconic manner as well as installations honoring personal history. Drawings of transitory organic forms and installation works present the viewer with timeless, meditative spaces. In many cases the still life subject of drawings has been reclaimed from compost piles and roadside clippings. Each diverse ecosystem she encounters, ranging from the excavated college parking lot to mountain pathways yields potent subject matter. The paradox that natural decay can be beautiful suggests a universal yet everyday cycle of death and resurrection. Kames is attracted to the flux between lifeâ€™s fullness and death, and the traces of life after death. The time-charged transformative process yields form that is beautiful to the attentive eye. She experiences the sense of awe in perhaps unexpected places. In her artwork the experience is translated to formal arrangements that draw the viewer into that act of attention.